Ad-Aware irrelevant...

[eBauer]

I'm just waiting for lswino to respond back now...

 

[SampSon]

It seems that this virusbtn website is so credible that no one has ever heard of it! Not even google!

The head editor is a biologist whom did some publishing about biology nerd stuff for university purposes, then makes a transition into the pro-audio industry and then gets the calling to publish content for expectant/new parents. Definite street cred in malware/spyware and computer software development!

The rest of that team is rag-tag funny, bordering on hilarious. There is what appears to be one guy devoted to any sort of security software testing. Luckily his main passion is "moderating various online communities." and not software development or anything like that. The authoring on the site is borderline awful in quite a few areas, as if the editor isn't editing, or even using the grammar check button. The kicker is that whenever there is quoted text on the site, there is no source.

Not to be a total hater, but this Virus Bulletin site is.. well... junk.
I see lswino stating stuff like "We're going to keep doing submitting to credible test organisiations and publishing the results.". Does this follow the whole "It's on the internet so it's true!" logic? Write some article, make a graph or two, fire up illustrator and make a nice little certification logo... and then charge people to see the "results"?

Really? I'd also like to know all the sources quoted and companies involved are from somewhere in Europe. Want some credibility? Come and strut your stuff in America.

As for the topic at hand.. Ad-Aware simply does not do the job as well as other software or combinations of software available. Lavasoft got into significantly more and different software development than just malware/spyware etc removal. The company lost focus and attempted to diversify its product offering to make more money. This resulted in an inferior core product while competing companies developed superior solutions. That is why users choose software other than Ad-Aware, because most of other software solutions are simply better. Endless companies do the same thing, try to expand their product offerings beyond their core and shit the bed.

 

[lswino]

I'm just waiting for lswino to respond back now...

I totally forgot about this thread! What would you like a response to?

Andy

 

[lswino]

@ SampSon

"It seems that this virusbtn website is so credible that no one has ever heard of it! Not even google!"

Virus Bulletin is a massively respected anti-malware industry organisation. To achieve their VB100 award is no mean feat - it's an industry benchmark. Their VB100 test results, along with AV-Test's, are used by people like Neil Rubenking to help him evaluate anti-malware applications for publications like PC Mag. The magazine Virus Bulletin publish every month is THE industry periodical - some of the brightest and best researchers contribute to it. Their yearly conference is the highlight of the the year for the anti-malware industry, attracting hundreds of the most talented staff from AV companies around the world [even us second-rate European ones ;-)] to attend and speak on bleeding edge topics.

"As for the topic at hand.. Ad-Aware simply does not do the job as well as other software or combinations of software available."

The idea was to find out why people say this. With the utmost respect to everyone who has posted in this thread, I can't say it has been convincingly demonstrated. I also hoped to persuade people that Ad-Aware has improved in leaps and bounds in recent times using as much third party, credible evidence as I could lay my hands on at the time (Ad-Aware has achieved a lot more since this thread started - http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/509166/ad-aware-and-spybot/?p=3170505).

Rather than pursue the debate, I have reached a conclusion - industry certifications using approved test methodologies by established third party organizations are not useful to the average person. This being the case, I need to find another approach to show that Ad-Aware really is an excellent anti-malware application.

It's a shame, because a massive amount of resources go into these tests to give people hard facts about the efficacy of anti-malware programs. The results are supposed to help people decide which ones are really worth considering. If people haven't heard of these test companies or do not find them credible, maybe, bluntly, it's just an industry circle-jerk. If this is true it's a desperate waste - such a great resource going completely under the radar.

I would encourage you to keep an eye on these testing organisations - they keep participating companies honest and are there to help you make an informed decision. If you don't see your favourite application being tested, ask the vendor why not.

Anyway, thanks to all who took the time to write in this thread. Like I said in my first post, I'm not a marketing guy, I'm a malware researcher. Ultimately, I just want people to be protected. If you choose to use Ad-Aware, great, if not, make sure the one you choose is a good one!

So, use a good anti-malware application, keep it updated, make sure Windows & your applications are patched and stay safe!

Regards,

Andy
Lavasoft Malware Lab

 

[JEDIYoda]

Andy, I really appreciate your concern and desire to be up front and try to understand those of us who at one time used Ad Aware because quite frankly at one time it was the best!!

If I may jump back into this thread......
Before I respond let me make it clear I am not trying to be disrespectful to anybody who uses Ad-Aware!
Since I purchased my very first computer back in the Pentium 2 days.....
Ad - Aware has been the standard of excellence!
Ad-Aware was without a doubt IMO the best on the market.

What happened you might ask?

Well if I may speculate.......
Quite often when a company reaches the pinnacle of success, they get lax and take for granted what made them the best of the best!

In this case I believe that is what happened!
Why?

When you are the best and you continually strive to be the best, others who were not as good as you can and probably will over time through hiring and working on their programs could catch up to you and also be successful!
Yet as is to often the case once you were the best, now that you have to play catch up to the others who might even be upstart companies.....that is very difficult thing to pull off!!

I currently on my wife`s windows 7 system just installed Avast mainly because she loves to open sites from Europe because like me she speaks many different languages. We have had ZERO problems on her machine since!
To be fair though her problems were not exactly viruses as it was a humongous amount of pop ups and sites that appeared to be good sites but Avast would block!
Also SpyBot Search and Destroy is something that I taught her to run daily on her machine!

On my Dell Inspiron 2330 with windows 8 after the 30 day free trial of McAfee`s ran out I tried Avast.
Avast totally froze up my system. For whatever reason, I was told that Avast needs time to get use to your computer and the sites that you use.
So I switched to bit defender and am very happy.

Bit Defender stays in the background and pops up when there is a problem...which it has done several times!!

As far as Ad Aware goes, I am at a loss for good words.
Mind you I am not claiming to be an expert! I am claiming to relate my own experiences as accurately and fair as I can!

Cheers!!

 

[Revolution 11]

I agree with what the other posters are saying and want to share my experience with AV programs. Back in the Pentium 4 days, Spybot and Ad-Aware were the two main free apps I used to scan and clean computers. Both programs were lighter, faster, more comprehensive, and less intrusive than competing commercial apps. This approach served me well until about 2008.

I got several virus/malware infections that neither of the two forementioned programs could detect or remove. I went to bleepingcomputer.com and the users there directed me to MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware for routine scanning. Combofix also became my program of last resort before a reformat was needed.

These 3 programs were catching malware that the two old market leaders could not. They were the new Spybot and Ad-Aware. That's why I shifted to the new programs, that is why they are successful, and why tech users recommend them.

Virus certification tests and industry approvals are nice but if a program can not detect and remove the malware I have, it is not a good program for me.

Side considerations for me include "bloat", a nebulous and poorly-defined concept. I stopped using Ad-Aware before I could notice any bloat problem, but Spybot definitely was bloating up. And it still couldn't keep up with the more nimble/light MBAM and SuperAntiSpyware. Bloat is something that can only be justified if the results are superior to other solutions. And even then, it is a fine line to walk.